


Singing For Charity

by Gravityoverthegarden



Series: Songs to sing and fall in love too [3]
Category: Kingdom Keepers - Ridley Pearson
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Jess and Dillard are both mentioned, M/M, Social Media
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-25
Updated: 2019-05-25
Packaged: 2020-03-17 00:52:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18954607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gravityoverthegarden/pseuds/Gravityoverthegarden
Summary: Finn just likes to hear Philby sing even at the misfortune of him having to sing - and of the audience having to hear him sing.





	Singing For Charity

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place a few months after The Dark Passage. The few differences is that Finn and Amanda, as well as Philby and Willa, aren't together; and Dillard is alive because no thank you, Ridley, but the events of Shell Game and The Dark Passage still messed Finn up because Dillard almost died but the Keepers were able to save him before he did.

Finn was bouncing up and down.

He was visibly annoying Amanda but he was too nervous to stop.

"What if I mess up?" He asked.

"You won't, Finn," Amanda said. "You've practiced this over a hundred times."

"But there are people watching!"

"The other Keepers, ten fans, and management; so around twenty, thirty people." She left out the fact that hundreds of thousands of people were watching on a Livestream online.

"Why couldn't Philby do this?"

"Because the fans voted for you," Amanda said and then added, "And it's for charity."

"But wouldn't it be funny if Philby went out there and everyone's expecting a nerd's voice and instead an angelic voice comes out?"

Amanda gave a deadpanned look that was somehow different from the deadpanned expression she's had since he first started to panic over the performance a week ago. "Too bad; you're doing it."

"People are going to be so disappointed." Finn put his head in his hands. Why did they have to become social media influencers? "

If they hate it, then they hate it."

"I'll become a meme." He left out the part that he's been a meme multiple times before.

"Or this'll just be a blip in time and it'll never matter again."

"That's not how the internet works, Mandy."

"Finn~" Charline called out in a gleeful yet devious singsong.

"Be ready in five!"

"F-" He stopped himself from saying something inappropriate. "I hate all of you!"

"No, you don't!" Philby gloated.

"Philbs, I hope you know that you're the first person whom I'll turn on!" A lie and a half; Finn wouldn't turn on Philby for such a petty thing.

Philby laughed obnoxiously loud. Mocking him.

"Well, I gotta grab my seat. Break a leg," Amanda said and slipped out of the Keeper's shared dressing room.

"Don’t threaten me with a good time!" Finn exclaimed and Amanda laughed.

Finn tried to pick a repertoire of songs that was capable of singing at least mediocrely but he still wasn't entirely sold that he could sing them. He spent the time before he was given his last call to go on the stage of the Frozen show in Hollywood Studios bouncing and thinking of what threats he would be able to say without getting the Livestream flagged. He settled on generic ones.

"Finn, get your butt out here!" Maybeck shouted. Finn stalked out and he was glad that none of the rules said that the fans would choose what he would wear unlike Maybeck, who was wearing a dress and heels, even though Maybeck would never say no to wearing anything. Finn was good in a short sleeve plaid shirt and his nice pair of jeans. He situated himself at the stand-up microphone in the middle of the stage. There was a live band that Disney kindly supplied and whom Finn had gotten close to over the past week.

"I just want y'all to know I hate every single one of you," Finn deadpanned. "Except for the band." The lead guitarist played a peppy guitar sting and Finn shot her a finger gun.

"This is for charity, Finnegan!" Maybeck called out from the audience.

The Keepers sat in the middle and the ten fans who had donated and were chosen at random to come sit in the auditorium during the Livestream. "I know but I have a special treat at the end of this," Finn grinned.

"What are you talking ab-" Charlene called out.

"This one's "Turning Out" by AJR," Finn cut her off.

He made it through his set without much incident luckily, except for the few times his voice broke. Finn also hoped no one noticed he was staring at Philby for the entirety of the last song. Finn released a breath and let the silence simmer for a few more seconds. "Now that's over with, the surprise - Dell Philby get up on here!"

Charlene let out a really loud shriek laugh, which earned a harsh glare from Philby.

"And what if I say no?" Philby responded, standing up.

"You're letting down everyone who's donated. We reached out two-hundred-fifty-thousand dollar goal, isn't that enough motivation?" Finn questioned. The Keepers and Management agreed that in exchange for Finn singing he could choose the next stretch goal.

"You fu-"

"Hey! Family friendly content!" Willa interjected.

"Butt!" Philby shouted in lieu of cursing. "

You know you love me," Finn said sweetly.

"Love is a strong word. More like hate!"

"Think of this as… a workshop!"

"I'm not looking to workshop anything."

"Please dude - for the kids?" Philby didn't say anything for a moment and Finn was genuinely scared that he was actually mad. Finn knows Philby doesn't want Disney to know that he can sing and otherwise attempt to further capitalize on it, but it was Philby's idea first to have one of them sing as a stretch goal.

"Fine," Philby said and the few people in the auditorium cheered. Amanda, Jess, and Dillard were having the time of their lives off to the side of the seats. Philby made his way onto the stage.

"So what do you have for me?" Philby asked. Finn gave him a post-it note with two songs on it.

"I should really stop letting you go through my music."

"You really shouldn't," Finn laughed.

"Thot."

"Thought what?"

Philby glared at him.

"Well," Finn spoke into the microphone that was mostly a prop since he had a battery mic pack on, "Everyone, give it up for Dell Philby and appreciate it because you will probably never experience this again. He's starting off with Please Notice from Christian Akridge." Finn then hopped off the edge of the stage and sat next to one of the fans in the front row, "Hey!" He greeted and the fan weakly said, "Hi."

Finn turned his attention back to Philby, who was still glaring at him. Finn blew him a kiss and Philby started to flip him off but Willa shouted at him.

"Ready?" He asked.

"I guess," Philby said. Finn pointed at the band and gave them a thumbs up.

Even though Philby was upset at him, he still sang as beautifully as always and more than a few times did they hold eye contact. Finn would've loved if Philby sang to him when he didn't expect him to, like when he tries to calm Finn down after a nightmare, or he lost a bet, or Finn just happens to walk in on him.

"Holy shitake mushrooms, we've hit three-hundred thousand dollars; so after this song is Willa's revenge," Philby said after he finished the song.

"Heck yeah!" Willa cheered and she high-fived someone, probably Charlene, while Maybeck groaned.

"Last song!" Philby interjected. " _Talk to me_ " from Cavetown. Why do you go straight to these songs?" Finn laughed. "Yeah, yeah. Just hit it."

He got more into this song than the other one.

_"You don't have to be a hero to save the world/_

_It doesn't make you a narcissist to love yourself/_

_It feels like nothing is easy it'll never be/_

_That's alright, let it out, talk to me."_ Philby didn't look at Finn until he sang, "talk to me," and Finn felt attacked. So maybe he doesn't talk about one or fifteen things, that doesn't mean he can call- actually it does, because of the number of times Philby has walked in on him wallowing about something is much more than Finn is comfortable with confessing.

_"Anxiety tossing turning in your sleep/_

_Even if you run away you still see them in your dreams/_

_It's so dark tonight but you'll survive certainly/_

_It's alright, come inside, and talk to me."_ Why did Finn pick this song? Finn shifted in his chair; was it because the song struck him as eerily familiar to his current position? Does he regret picking that song out? A bit, but Philby still sang it amazingly.

_"We can talk here on the floor/_

_On the phone, if you prefer/_

_I'll be here until you're okay."_ Finn sheepishly grinned and ducked. This song could represent him and the rest of the Keepers. They all, in their own ways, try to talk and comfort him because he's been hit with all of the Keeper stuff and Finn hasn't been the most open since the Disney cruise about a year ago.

"It looks nice, fall asleep/

It's alright, come inside, and talk to me." Finn looked up at Philby as the song ended and saw him staring. Philby's lips twitched a smile and then he looked up. The auditorium exploded.

It took Philby about five minutes to get everyone to calm down because Willa, Amanda, and Maybeck likes to prolong the situation at hand.

"And that's all the singing you'll ever hear from me. Don't think about asking me again. Maybeck, take over while we set the next thing up. Finn, Willa." He walked backstage with a flat face and Finn quickly got up, gave the fans a quick smile while turning off his mic pack, and then hurried on stage to go backstage.

"Philby!" Finn shouted. He ran through the maze of a backstage. Finn found him in the Keeper's dressing room.

"Philby," Finn said. The tech nerd was sitting on a plastic foldable chair and staring at his shoes.

"Are you okay?"

"I - wasn't prepared, for that." His voice was quiet. "I'm sorry." Philby was quiet and still for a second until he suddenly sat up and ran his hands through his hair. "You know I was just listening to the comments when I suggested the stretch goal?"

"I know, I'm- sorry but I felt like it's a travesty that only the- well, just me actually, to hear you sing."

The computer nerd looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. "Are you flattering me, Mr. Whitman?"

"May-be?"

Philby snorted. "If Disney tries to give me a music deal, I'm expecting you to be on my side in that fight."

"Don't worry about it dude; let's get back out there."

**Author's Note:**

> Kind of out place of the current series but it's probably the last in this kind of songfic style. I'm pretty sure there was supposed to be an overarching plot in this series but I don't care.


End file.
